St Justin Popovich: All of man’s paths towards God may well meet a dead-end...
When, after the strict ascesis of the Gospel, a man finds within himself the divine center of his being—and finds there also the center of the transcendent divinity in this visible world—then he rises above time and beholds himself as from eternity. He sees himself as above time and space, deathless and eternal. At its root, true self-knowledge is also true knowledge of God, for man carries the shortest path between himself and God in the Godlike nature of his own soul. Here lies the shortest distance between man and God.
All of man’s paths towards God may well meet a dead-end; only this one leads surely to God in Christ.
In his philosophy, St. Isaac lays great emphasis on self-knowledge. “He who has been counted worthy to see himself,” he says, “is greater than he who has been counted worthy to see angels.
St Justin Popovich
